


A Most Unexpected Reunion

by Impala_Chick



Category: Merlin (TV), Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Gen, M/M, Magnus Bane & Merlin, POV Female Character, POV Outsider, Portals, Protective Merlin, Resurrection, Reunions, Time Shenanigans, Walk Into A Bar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 19:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20318041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: Some crazy stuff has happened at The Hunter's Moon. The bar is like a beacon for supernatural activity. But that doesn't mean Maia is prepared to meet King Arthur of Camelot.





	A Most Unexpected Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Into A Bar 2019! The prompt was "Arthur Pendragon goes into a bar and meets... Maia Roberts (Shadowhunters)!"

There were only a couple of werewolves tucked into a booth in the far corner, talking to Simon, when Maia made last call. She was grateful her shift had been relatively uneventful, because the bar had turned into a hub of supernatural activity as of late. It seemed like every downworlder meeting, pack argument, or shadowhunter proclamation had to be announced and discussed at The Hunter’s Moon. Those activities turned out to be good for selling alcohol, but bad for the longevity of the furniture. And don’t even get her started about the insurance bill.

She turned around to grab a rag and start cleaning up. A large boom startled her, and the sound was immediately followed by a huge gust of powerful wind that sent a wave of bottles crashing to the floor. Since it was not storm season, she was expecting to see a faerie or a warlock bursting through a portal when she whirled around with her fists up.

Instead there was a tall blonde man wearing what appeared to be medieval cosplay standing in the middle of the bar. Water was dripping down from his face, his blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, a golden crown sat atop his head, and nearly every inch of his body was covered in silver armor. He had a long red cape that hung off his shoulders. His blue eyes flicked around the room nervously before settling on Maia’s face. Maia watched as he tensed up, narrowed his eyes, and reached into his belt to draw a gleaming silver sword. 

“Can I help you?” Maia asked, her tone annoyed. He was getting water all over the hardwood floor, and yet he appeared to be trying to threaten her. She could feel her eyes flash as her wolf form tried to take over.

He shouted something and pointed his sword at her. But it was impossible to understand what he was saying. His voice boomed across the bar, the words deep and commanding even though he wasn’t speaking a language she could recognize.

Maia’s body was now just as tense as the intruder’s, unsure of the man’s intentions.

“I can’t understand you,” she said as she took a step out from behind the bar, her claws out but her palms up.

He eyed her warily and tried to say something more, but she shook her head and he clamped his mouth shut. She saw his jaw clench in either anger or annoyance.

“Are you okay, Maia?” Simon shouted. He must have heard them.

The wet guy snapped his head around to look in the direction of the noise, his nostrils flaring as he pointed his sword towards the back of the bar. He shouted in Simon’s direction, his words short and clipped.. His sword looked real enough, and she was worried that he would attack Simon. 

“I’m fine. This guy is just lost,” Maia growled as she stayed focused on the intruder’s face. She emerged from behind the bar, trying to inch closer to the back booths and Simon. 

Armor dude swung his sword back towards her. She noticed that his teeth were a bit crooked, but that did nothing to take away from his masculine bone structure and handsome face. As he stood with his shoulders tense and his knees slightly bent, ready for a fight, she was reminded of Jace. When the intruder focused his eyes back on hers, he had an eyebrow raised as if he wanted to ask a question. His sword hand did not waver, but she noticed him looking down at her clawed hands.

She was only a few feet away from him, within lunging distance. Surely if he intended on attacking her, he would have done it already. She could see the other werewolves walking towards her out of the corner of her eye, and they might not have come to the same conclusion she had. 

“Seriously guys, stop coming towards me. We don’t want to upset our mystery man,” she hissed.

“Maia, I don’t like this. The language he was speaking in sounds ancient. Like Latin, or something. And his armor is either a very _very_ realistic replica… or actually real,” Simon said, his voice confused.

Maia didn’t take her eyes off of the blonde man, conscious of just how quickly a situation could go south, but she snorted at Simon’s words. There was no way the costume was real. That would mean the guy either robbed a museum or was from the past. Strange things happened at the Hunter’s Moon, but time travel wasn’t on the list of possibilities as far as Maia knew.

“I think I can handle one dude with a sword, real or not. Maybe he’s just off his rocker,” Maia said, taking another step towards the guy. He hadn’t moved at all, his arm still stiffly holding his sword out. She advanced towards him slowly, with her arm raised. She thought maybe if she could just get close enough to grab his wrist and take his sword, they’d be able to figure out what was going on together. She was definitely going to have to call Magnus, considering it had probably been a portal that transported this man to her bar. Simon had almost reached Maia’s side by then. His arms were raised in the universal gesture for “stay calm, it will be okay.” 

Blonde guy swung his gaze towards Simon and the two werewolves who were still walking towards them. She was close enough to notice the way the intruder’s expression changed from one of trepidation to one of grim resolution. And then two things happened very quickly.

The two werewolves that had been behind Simon lunged forward with their claws out and fangs bared. The man slashed downward with his sword and drew first blood. One werewolf howled in pain, and Maia gritted her teeth to keep from transforming completely into her wolf form. 

The intruder reeled back and struck the second werewolf with his elbow and a loud crack rang out as the werewolf hit the ground.

Maia realized then that whoever this guy was, he was most definitely an experienced fighter.

She glanced over at Simon and shouted at him to stay back as she lunged forward. She was planning on grabbing the werewolf who was still standing and pulling him back, to keep him from getting struck by the sword. And then she would deal with the intruder.

But as soon as she lunged, a loud boom echoed through the bar and she was thrown onto her back by a large gust of wind. The air crackled with static. She growled and thrashed her feet, but she was pinned to the ground and couldn’t move. She knew then that magic was at play.

“Simon!” She shouted, panicking slightly. If the intruder was an excellent fighter who _also_ happened to have magic, they were screwed.

“I’m okay!” She heard him say. She tried to turn her head to see him, but she couldn’t move her neck. She could only look straight ahead, and her eyes settled on the intruder’s face.

His mouth was open and he looked just as shocked as she felt. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking to his left and whatever he’d seen had caused him to drop his sword. The room was deathly quiet for a moment. 

It could not be good that there was someone - something - else with them now, something that even gave the guy with the sword pause. Maia was still unable to move so she could only wait, and hope that they weren’t dealing with an even bigger threat.

Finally the intruder spoke in that strange archaic language of his, his voice much softer than it had been before. She watched as his whole face softened, and his mouth curved upwards into a hesitant smile. 

The lights in the bar flared strangely, and then the magic holding her down was lifted and she scrambled to her feet. She ran over to Simon and curled her hand around his bicep to pull him up. And then they both helped the two werewolves to their feet. One was still dripping blood from his shoulder, and Simon pulled off a scrap of the werewolf’s t-shirt to bind the wound.

After she saw that Simon had that situation in hand, Maia stepped in front of Simon and the werewolves and turned to face the person who had joined them. The new stranger had a dark, thick beard and brown curls that fell down onto his forehead. 

The dark-haired stranger reached out with his right hand as he approached the blonde. The two intruders stared at each other for a moment, and everything was quiet except the wounded werewolf’s labored breathing. 

Maia felt adrenaline pumping through her, preparing her for a fight. This man must have been the one to use magic, and she had little hope of beating him if he could throw her to the ground like a rag doll, but she knew she had to try. 

She expected the men to turn towards them and join forces, or maybe start fighting each other. Maybe the blonde had tried to escape from a feud, or maybe he was wanted for breaking magical law and the Warlock had come to take him to face the consequences. 

What she did not expect was for them to embrace like old lovers. The blonde engulfed the dark haired man and tangled his fingers in his curls. She could hear the dark haired man sigh deeply, and then he seemed to sag into the blonde’s arms. He brought his hands up and around the blonde, his fingers spread wide against his red cloak. She could see the side of the blonde man’s face, and there were definitely tears in his eyes. He pressed his nose against the dark haired man’s neck, and they stayed locked together. Both of them were breathing so loudly and so raggedly that the intimate noises filled the whole bar.

This wasn’t a fight. It was a reunion.

She stepped back, unsure of what to do. It almost seemed rude to interrupt them.

And then another burst of energy surged through the room, followed by a gust of powerful wind that knocked the remaining alcohol bottles onto the floor. At the front of the bar, Magnus emerged from a shimmering purple portal. The loud noise made the two intruders break apart abruptly. The dark haired one jumped out in front of the blonde with his arms raised.

“What exactly is going on? There are crazy levels of magic registering -” Magnus stopped mid-sentence once he noticed the two strangers staring at him. His eyes widened briefly, and then a huge grin broke out on his face. As if this day couldn’t get any weirder. 

“Merlin?” He exclaimed, already striding forward.

“Magnus?” The dark haired man said, his voice slightly amused. “Clearly nothing gets past the High Warlock of Brooklyn.”

“Well, you didn’t do much to mask your presence,” Magnus said as he stuck out his hand. Merlin shook it. 

“I was in a bit of a hurry,” Merlin admitted as he glanced over his shoulder.

Maia looked over at the blonde, whose lips were pressed together in a thin line. He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his hip, clearly conveying his impatience. 

“Is someone going to explain what in the hell is going on?” Maia interrupted. 

Merlin and Magnus turned towards her, and Magnus’ smile promptly left his face as he flicked his gaze from Simon to the injured werewolves. 

“Are they okay?” He said as he looked at Maia.

“Patrick was wounded but he’ll live,” Maia answered, before plowing on. “I don’t understand. You know these guys?”

“I’m terribly sorry about your friend, but you have to understand that Arthur here -” Merlin started to apologize. He was interrupted by the blonde man, who cleared his throat loudly and glared at Merlin. Faced with a warlock named Merlin, a guy wearing battle armor and a crown who happened to be named Arthur, and a gleaming sword still laying on the floor of the bar, Maia was starting to get the impression that maybe Simon wasn’t too far off the mark earlier.

“Oh right, sorry Arthur.” Merlin’s eyes flashed golden and he whispered a few archaic words. Arthur’s face blanked out for a moment and then he shook his head as if to clear it.

“Merlin, what did you do to me?” Arthur said, clearly speaking English even though his words were twinged with a British accent. 

“Wow, that was a neat trick,” Simon said, amused.

“You can understand me? I can understand you?” Arthur whipped his head around to look at Simon, his hand now on his hip and his eyes narrowed.

“Wait a minute, you’re Arthur? As in, KING Arthur?” Simon said as he caught on, his mouth agape as he glanced between Arthur and Merlin. 

“Uh, listen Arthur. Maybe we should leave these people to tend to their friend.” Merlin stepped forward and put a hand on Arthur’s arm. Arthur turned back to look at him, his expression melting into one of reverence as he gazed at Merlin’s face, like he was still surprised to see him standing there.

Merlin’s eyes darted over to Magnus, but his hand didn’t leave Arthur’s arm.

“We have much to discuss later, Magnus. About the prophecy,” Merlin said.

“Indeed,” Magnus said gravely. “But I can help them.” Magnus gestured towards the werewolves and Simon. “You both should get to safety for now.”

Merlin nodded, took a step away from Arthur, and raised his hands. After another crackle of electricity and a huge gust of wind, Merlin created a shining green portal. 

She could see Arthur’s eyes widen in shock as he looked between the portal and Merlin’s face. Merlin glanced over at him and bit his lip. He took a deep, steadying breath and then put out his right hand with his palm up.

“Do you trust me?” He said, loud enough to be heard over the buzzing of the portal.

Arthur hesitated for a moment. She saw him clench his fist once as he started intently at Merlin. And then he stuck out his hand and clasped Merlin’s. 

“I do,” he said. She saw Merlin smile wide before they both stepped into the portal.

She looked over at Simon, who was staring after the pair of them looking completely gobsmacked. She did not blame him.

“Okay, Magnus. Seriously. Tell us what is going on,” she chided. 

He walked towards the bar with a flourish, and took a seat.

“It’s a long story. So I’m going to need a drink first,” he said, drumming his fingers against the bar. 

Maia rolled her eyes and looked over at the werewolves. 

“You guys okay?” 

They both nodded at her meekly but didn’t say anything else. Sometimes she really liked being the beta. 

She turned back towards the bar, and picked her way around all the broken glass to try and find a martini glass. She managed to find one, but the liquor choices were limited. The whole place reeked of booze, and she did not look forward to all the cleaning that would be required. Maybe Magnus could help with that.

She poured Magnus a stiff drink and set it down on the bar. Simon came up and sat next to him, glancing over at Maia with a huge smile on his face.

“Oh, I have got to hear this,” he said eagerly. 

By the way Magnus’ eyes gleamed, Maia had a feeling this was going to be quite the story. She crossed her arms and leaned against the bar.

“Right, so. Arthurian legends are a thing even in the 21st century, right? As the shadowhunters would say, all the legends are true.”

Magnus flashed a grin, took a sip of his drink, and began.


End file.
